Car-fender.



PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

E. SHERWOOD.

GAR FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1903.

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No. 757,845. PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

' E. SHERWOOD. GAR FENDER APPLICATION FILED we. 22, 1903.

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EARL SHERWVOOD, OF HONESDALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,845, dated April 19, 1904.

Application filed August 22, 1903. Serial No. 170,462. (No model.)

To all], whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EARL SHERWOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hones-' dale, in the county of Wayne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Car-Fender, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to car-fenders of the type designed to be arranged at the front end of the car and embodying means for automatically assuming a position with relation to the track that will insure the picking up of the person or obstacle without injury to the latter.

The invention has especially in view the provision of improved hanging or supporting means for the fender or scoop proper which shall provide simple, practical, and effectual means for holding the fender body or. scoop in a normal position, clearing the track, while at the same time constituting a part of the arrangement which permits of a drop or dropping action for the fender body or scoop upon striking the obstacle and returning the fender body or scoop to its normal position when relieved of any weight which may be imposed thereon.

A further object of this invention is to provide hanging means adapted specially for a fender body or scoop of the folding type and which will fold with the latter as a part thereof in contradistinction to those types of hangers which have no folding action and shall coustitute the fulcrum or pivotal point upon which the fender-frame swings when moved to a folded position in front of the dash or dashboard of the car.

Another object is to provide hanging means embodying elements which when the fenderframe is disconnected therefrom occupy such positions that when engaged by the fender of another car will turn or swing out of the Way, and thus obviate damage to the engaging fender or to the hanging means on the car from which its fender has been removed.

A general object of the invention is to provide self-adjusting hanging means capable of employment in connection with any of the ordinary types of hinged or folding fenders and at the same time to provide an improvement in the hangings disclosed in my former patents, No. 650,491, May 29, 1900, and Nos. 713,162 and 713,163, of November 11, 1902. In this connection the invention contemplates improved hanging means which dispense with the trips of Patents Nos. 650,491 and 713,162 and at the same time permit of an automatic drop action for the fender body or scoop when engaged by an obstacle.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

The essential feature of the invention involving the selfadjusting fenderhanging means, permitting of the automatic drop action and the folding of the fender body or scoop, as above indicated, is necessarily susceptible to modification according to any stated conditions without departing from the scope of the invention; but the preferred embodiment of the latter is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a general perspective view sho w-' ing a fender in its applied position upon the front of a car and having associated therewith the improved hanging means. Fig. 2 is an elevation showing the parts of C the fender in folded relation in front of the dashboard of the car. Fig.- 3 is a detail in perspective of the self-adjusting hanger at one side of the car-body. Fig. 1 is a detail perspective view of one of the weighted counter-balancingarms. Fig. 5 is a detail view of one of the side bars of the folding fender-frame.

Like reference-numerals designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying out the invention the distinctive feature thereof resides in the construction and action of the hanging means associated with a fender of the folding type, and hence various types of fender bodies or scoops may be utilized in connection with such hanging means. However, the preferable form of fender body or scoop with which the invention is used is the general type shown in my other patents aforesaid, so for illustrative purposes there is shown in the drawings a fender body or scoop 1 of the type indicated. This fender body or scoop 1 essentially comprises the main folding frame 2, having opposite parallel side bars 3, and an upstanding folding back section 4:, having suitable pivotal connection at 5 with the side bars 3 of the main frame and folding therewith when the fender as an entirety is swung upward in front of the dashboard of the car. The front portion of the main frame 2 and the framework of the folding back section 4 carry the usual netting to provide the scoop, and associated with the folding frame is the adjusting-cable 6, consisting of achain or rope having suitable connection, as at 7, to the front edge of the fender and at its other end adapted to be secured in. a convenient way upon the dashboard of the car, so that the driver can readily raise and lower the fender.

In carrying out the present invention it is desirable to associate with the fender body or scoop short flexible supporting connections 8, usually consisting of chains connected at one end with the upper part of the back section 4 and having their links adjustablyengaged with the holding-hooks 9, fitted to the dashboardframe of the car. The function of these flexible supporting connections 8 is first to provide means for adj ustably maintaining the fender body or scoop at any desired normal elevation above the track and also to constitute swinging fulcrums for the fender in its dropping or downward movement when engaged by an obstacle. In this function the connections 8 cooperate with the hanging means now to be described. v

The operating elements of the hanging means are suspended in proper position through the medium of the supporting-brackets 10, suitably fastened and braced to opposite sides of the platform extensions of the carbody and to the lower ends of which are pivotally connected the hanging means proper consisting of the pendent pivotal hangers 11 and the vertically-swinging cou nterbalancingarms 12. The pendent pivotal hanger 11 at each side of the car is preferably in the form of a swinging link pivotally supported at its upper end upon the pivot-bolt 13, fitted to the lower end of the bracket 10, said link being provided at its free swinging end with an angular socket or opening 1 1, which detachably receives a correspondingly-shaped holdingtongue 15, carried at the inner or rear end of the frame side bars '3, associated with said link. The construction is the same at both sides of the car, and the side bars 3 are therefore both provided with holding-tongues 15. These tongues may consist of extra pieces bolted or otherwise fastened to the main portions of the side bars 3, but in all forms of the invention consist of extensions at the inner ends of the side bars in order to be conveniently inserted in the sockets or openings 14 of the hangers or hanger-links 11. At the point where the holding-tongues 15,project from the main portions of the side bars 3 are formed the abutmentshoulders 16, which engage against the outer side of the hangers or links 11 to provide a rigid or firm connection between the side bars of the fender-frame and the hangers. By reason of this connection the fender-frame can be readily slipped into and out of posi.

tion with relation to the hangers 11, while at the same time when the fender-frame is mounted on the hangers or hanger-links the latter constitute rigid parts of the frame and fold for wardly and upwardly therewith in the folding operation, as plainly shown in Fig. 2 of shoulders 17, against which the hangers bear when forced backward. Upon the swinging ends of the oounterbalancing-arms are mounted the pendent adjustable counterbalanceweights 18. These weights are arranged to lie beneath the arms and are provided upon their outer sides with the upstandingears 19,

pivotally bolted to the arms 12 through the medium of the clamping -bolts 20. These clamping bolts when tightened hold the Weights adjusted in any desired position; but it will be observed that upon loosening the bolts 20 the weights can be adjusted to any angular relation with reference to the counterbalancing-arms to provide means for decreasing or increasing the leverage, according to the degree of sensitiveness desired for the dropping movement or action of the fenderbody. The extreme downward movement or position of the weighted counterbalancingarms is checked through the medium of the flexible limiting connections 21 between the swinging ends of the arms and car-body.

From the foregoing description it is thought that the construction, operation, and many advantages of the herein-described fender will be thoroughly understood without further description, and it will be understood that changes may be made in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1 1. In a car-fender, pivotal hangers, and a folding fender-frame having a separable and non-rotative connection with the hangers, said hangers being provided with means for countel-balancing the fender-frame and being also foldable therewith.l--

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2. In a car-fender, pivotal hangers, a folding fender-frame having a separable, non-rotative connection with the hangers and foldable therewith, and connections interposed between the fender-frame and a fixed point of support on the car and constituting supports upon which the fender-frame swings when thrown downward. I

3. In a car-fender, counter-balancing hanging devices having pendent pivotal members, and a folding fender-frame having a separable, non rotative connection with said pivotal hanger members and foldable therewith.

4B. In a car-fender, counterbalancing hanging devices embodying hanger and counterbalance members operating in unison upon the movement of the hanger members in one direction, and a folding fender-frame having a non-rotative connection with the hanger members and foldable therewith.

5. In a car-fender, counterbalancing hanging devices embodying separate hanger and counterbalance members having a common pivotal support and operating in unison upon the movement of the hanger members in a backward direction, and a folding fenderframe having a separable, non-rotative connection with thehanger members and foldable therewith.

6. In a car-fender, counterbalancing hanging devices comprising separate pendent hanger and vertically-swinging counterbalance members, the hanger members being provided with sockets or openings, and a folding fender-frame having members separably and non-rotatably engagedin the sockets or openings of said hanger members.

7. In a car-fender, counterbalancing hanging devices each comprising apendent hanger member and a vertically-swinging counterbalance member, said members having a common pivotal support and being adapted to cooperate upon the backward movement of the hanger members, a folding fender-frame having a back section and non-rotatably connected with the hanger members to fold therewith, and adjustable supporting connections connecting the back section of the fender-frame to a fixed point of support and constituting the fulcrum upon which the frame swings when thrown downward.

8. In a car-fender, counterbalancing hanging devices each consisting of a supportingbracket, a pendent hanger-link pivotally suspended from said bracket, a vertically-swinging counterbalance-arm mounted at one end upon the pivot for the hanger-link and pro- EARL SHERWOOD.

Witnesses:

D. P. VVoLHAUP'rnR, GEORGE M. BOND. 

